No More Desperation in Christ

 

 

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

—John 6:35  

But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

—John 4:14

 

Once we come to Jesus, He said we would never hunger. He said that if we believe in Him—if we drink of His water—we would never thirst. Jesus obviously wasn’t speaking of a physical hunger or thirst. Jesus was speaking in a spiritual sense. Once we believe in Him, Jesus said our spiritual hunger and thirst would be satisfied.

 

Many Christians talk about their hunger and thirst for God. If they are speaking of their passion for God, this makes perfect sense. But why do some believers often talk about being desperately hungry for a life of His peace? Or being desperately thirsty for a life of joy? Jesus is God’s gift of peace that overcomes our tumultuous problems (John 16:33). Jesus came so our joy might be full (John 15:11). When we know Him and the power of His resurrection, we abound in His spiritual peace and joy (Romans 15:13). We know His faith in us is greater than any emotion or feeling.

 

If we believe in Jesus, we don’t have to be emotionally desperate. 

 

The American Heritage Dictionary says the word “desperate” means “reckless or violent because of despair; nearly hopeless; critical. The Houghton Mifflin American Heritage Electronic Dictionary gives synonyms for “desperate” as “hopeless, forlorn, despondent, despairing, critical, crucial, acute, and dire.” It defines “desperate” as “having lost all hope.”

 

Why would the word “desperate” ever describe us as children of God? We believe in Jesus’ finished work of salvation for us on the cross. We believe in His resurrection power in our lives. We aren’t hopeless and forlorn. We haven’t lost all hope. Faith is the substance of what we hope for (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is our positive response to the grace of Jesus. We take God’s truth as His authority and power in our lives. We believe His truth by faith and make it our own. 

 

Being spiritually hungry for more understanding of the new life that is ours in Christ isn’t feeling desperate. Jesus is the Word full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Ask, and you shall receive. Seek, and you shall find His truth. Knock, and His truth will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7). And when you believe God’s truth in your heart, your hunger and thirst are satisfied. You know you lack nothing in His unconditional love and grace. You are filled to overflowing with Him.

 

The problem is many believers don’t know the truth of who Jesus is in their lives and all He has done for them. They haven’t been transformed by renewing their minds with the Word (Romans 12:2). If they had, they would know the truth of who they are in Christ in their hearts. They would be satisfied with Jesus. He would be all they need.

 

A spiritual hunger to know and believe God’s truth will satisfy your hunger and thirst. It will overcome your emotional desperation. It will overcome your fear. It will overcome your doubt. Those who come to Jesus need not be desperate. Those who come to know Him are filled with believing faith in God’s truth. Knowing who you are in Christ gives you a victorious life instead of a desperate one.

 

“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'” (John 7:37-38).

 

No doubt there were many desperately thirsty souls listening to Jesus. His words were a direct invitation for them to ignore their religious arguments and just come and take a drink of His living water and see if they would be satisfied.

 

If you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are saved (Acts 16:31). You have come to Him by faith. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God in your heart (Romans 10:17). You believe His truth by faith. Listen to the Holy Spirit revealing God’s Word to you. Drink of His truth. Drink of Him. Receive His living water. You no longer need to thirst. You no longer need to be desperate. His life is now your life.

 

Jesus is the bread of life that satisfies your hunger.

 

“Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).

 

Jesus—the Word—is the living water that satisfies your thirst. 

 

“But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst” (John 4:14).

 

Now may the God of hope fill you, my friend in Christ, with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:33).

 

 

© 2023 Lynn Lacher

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